Search form

Search form

The Pentagon is reconsidering plans to spread the pain of furloughs evenly, as some branches are able to achieve cost-cutting without sending workers home. "It's the idea of shared sacrifice and shared pain, which doesn't necessarily translate to good policy," said Todd Harrison, senior fellow for defense budget studies at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.

Related Summaries

The federal shutdown may cost between $4 billion and $8 billion in closing and reopening costs, with the Pentagon accounting for an unknown portion of that, but a cost that's at least in the billions, say experts. One unknown: Whether federal workers now furloughed will eventually get paid for their time off the job, and how the government will deal with the backlog of unfinished work. "We know generally it creates inefficiencies, many more inefficiencies than a typical continuing resolution, and a continuing resolution is bad enough," said Todd Harrison, an analyst with the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.

Experts are warning that a government shutdown will hit defense contractors when they already are struggling to cope with sequestration cuts, and that cash flow, stock prices and incoming contracts all may be affected. "I don't think there's a whole lot [defense suppliers] can do other than brace for impact," said Todd Harrison, a senior fellow with the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.

The Pentagon is reconsidering plans to spread the pain of furloughs evenly, as some branches are able to achieve cost-cutting without sending workers home. "It's the idea of shared sacrifice and shared pain, which doesn't necessarily translate to good policy," said Todd Harrison, senior fellow for defense budget studies at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.

Nearly all of the 800,000 civilians who work for the Defense Department would be furloughed if sequestration goes through, according to an analysis by Todd Harrison, a defense-spending expert with the nonpartisan Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. The monthlong furloughs would take place between March and September, Harrison said, if sequestration goes into effect.

Defense firms won't feel the financial pain of sequestration cuts at once, a new report says, but over the long haul, the automatic spending reductions will drive up the cost of weapons. The cuts would likely cause the Pentagon to buy weapons in smaller quantities, ultimately making them more expensive, said Todd Harrison of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, an independent think tank that published the report.